Ruby Jones on the government’s plan to demolish public housing

So yeah, so this has been here since says I was a kid.

Yeah, I think Barry Barry has lived in his North Melbourne flat for most of his life.

So there's two rulings here. I think this is a Sunner suit. And he's got twenty fours and he's got twelve floors.

He has mild cerebral palsy and he's cared for by his mother here in his home. He has all the medical support he needs close by.

And how many bedrooms did she say?

I've got three bedrooms? Some of them got like four or five bedrooms? Can I think, sir? Yeah?

And tickets. His mosque is nearby his Erritrey and community surrounds him, as do his friends and wider family. This week, my colleague Ruby Jones went to visit him there and Barry told her about this moment in twenty twenty three.

He remembers being in his home back in twenty twenty three getting a text message from a friend. This friend told him to turn on the TV, which he does.

I've got a calm saying a message saying hey, turn the town nine.

Barry watched as Daniel Andrews announced Barry's home in Melbourne's public housing towers would be demolished.

And so that is how he finds out that the apartment that he's lived in for more than twenty years, the government wants to knock it down and he is furious.

Once announcement came kicked in straight away my min started to just go and I workload basically what to do next.

I think for anyone who lives in Melbourne, they will immediately have an image of those public housing towers. They're

From Schwartz Media, I'm Daniel James. This is seven AM Today, reporter and co host of seven Am Ruby Jones on plans to demolish public housing during a housing crisis and the David and Goliath fight to stop the towers falling. It's Friday, April fourth.

Ruby.

Once Barry hears Dan Andrews say on TV that the towers would be locked down, he was shocked, he was angry. What does he do about it?

So he starts talking to people, and everyone in these towers is talking to each other. They're asking him what he's going to do, what they should do. And eventually Barry ends up connecting with a local legal service, the Inner They're called Inner Melbourne Community Legal, and they end up launching a class action and they ask him if he will be a part of it, and he eventually ends up actually being the lead plaintiff.

So Barry decides to take on the Victorian government over this. Tell me about the case he's making. What's his argument?

Yeah, so the basis of his claim is that the way that the government made this decision without consultation is not compatible with his human rights or anyone else who lives in the towers. So I spoke to one of the lawyers from in a Melbourne Community Legal about this, Louisa Bassini.

My name's Luisa Bassini.

I'm the manager of Housing and Tendency in a Melbourne Community Legal. We work closely with people who live in public housing in this area. So I think we were the first port of call for them when the announcement was made.

She has been leading the class action.

We made an argument that people have the right not to have their homes arbitrarily interfered with under the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act, that there needs to be an opportunity for people to have a say when a decision is being made that so directly affects them.

Victoria has this Charter of Human Rights. It was put in place back in two thousand and six, and it requires public authorities, so state and local government departments to act consistently within the human rights of that chatter flowing.

From that, you know, our argument was that even if there is a decision made that public housing needs to be renewed, so improved or grown, whatever on, the estates that any objective that the government is seeking to achieve needs to be pursued in a manner that is the least restrictive on people's rights.

And so this all comes back to consultation. The idea that because the government didn't consult with the residents before they made this announcement, they've disregarded those human rights. And she says that flowing on from that, other options should have been investigated, things like improving the towers other than knocking them down, for example.

How has the Victorian government responded to this?

Yeah, so Homes Victoria. They made several arguments in their defense. So first of all, they say the towers, it does not fit for purpose. They're in bad condition, there are all these noise problems, problems with accessibility, safety concerns, and that they can't retrofit them. The impact of that would be the same as redevelopment anyway. They also say that

Right, So what do we know then about the government decision making process. I mean, who did they actually consult and what were they told.

It's a really interesting question.

So there are these series of reports that Homes Victoria commissioned when they were investigating all of this, and then they sent these reports to cabinet to look at. But because they were prepared for cabinet, they're considered cabinet in confidence and they're not public.

But we do know who was consulted with.

They've seen this list and it's really largely engineering consultancies.

There's also an architecture firm.

There's a demolition contractor, and then there's this global commercial real estate this firm.

But no residents. But no residents, right, so how does it all go in court?

Well, so we're waiting on a decision and that decision is due in just a few hours time, at ten am this morning, and so I think right now there'll be a lot of residents getting ready to go down to the courthouse to hear what the judge has to say in real time. But while this court action has been going on, Holmes Victoria agreed to not evict anyone. What they have done is sent letters to residents offering

Coming up after the break the class actions chance of success Ruby the Victorian government can't evict people at least while this class action is ongoing. But nonetheless, residents are feeling the pressure to relocate. So tell me what the vibe is on the ground.

Yeah, So everyone who lives in these towers, they are guaranteed a PLA to live while the redevelopments happen. The government has said that. But the way that it works is that people under the guidelines of Homes Victoria, they are entitled to two offers of housing. When they receive them and see that, a lot of them get really concerned that if they don't accept the first offer they get, then maybe the next offer won't be as good. And then they wonder what happens if they don't accept that

Now.

The Victorian government maintains that no one will be made homeless and that housing officers are working closely with everyone. But I think what's ended up happening is that a lot of the people who might disagree with the government's plans to get rid of these towers, they are relocating because they feel like they don't have any other options. So according to Barry, some of those include families who've had to split up because there hasn't been houses that

In, testing the soil for the production so for the real book.

But they haven't. Wow, okay, so we've got the class.

Yes. Yes.

So the message is that this is happening, whether or not you like it. And that's something that Barry himself has felt, I think very acutely, because his own mother and brother have also been telling him that they want to leave. They've been getting the letters too, and they're worried about their future. So he, you know, he's convinced them to wait it out. Because he is the lead

So the judgment will come down at ten am today. What's likely to happen.

Yeah, So I asked Harry about that and he said he thought it was fifty to fifty. I would say that the lawyer who's working on the class action, Louisa Passini, having she seemed less hopeful.

I think it's pretty clear it's a.

Real David and goliathe kind of fired. So if they lose, so Barry will have to move and everyone who lives in his state will as well. Most of them will go into community housing, which is different from public housing. So in public housing, the government is your landlord, the rent is capped at twenty five percent of your income. But community housing is quite different. It's run by not for profits, the rent tends to be higher and there

And then there is the location. So for Barrier, that means that.

If he moves, he he might lose his community, he might lose easy access to the mosque across the road, and you know, to the landscape of his entire life. Really and I think if you look more broadly at what will happen, the inner suburbs of Melbourne are going to change drastically if these towers do not exist. You know, it's already an incredibly expensive place for people to live, and if you remove the towers, that only becomes more acute.

And this case is coming in the middle of housing crisis. Which is a key election debate. What will the effect be on housing?

Yeah, I mean the Victorian government is making the case that this will improve the housing crisis, so they say that there'll be more homes at the end of all of this, and more social housing specifically as well by ten percent.

You know, that is kind of the stated aim of all of this.

But when you start to speak to people who work in the housing sector, you know, it's clear that they're pretty worried. This could make the housing crisis worse because it will put pressure in the public housing weightless, you know, even more than there already is pressure, which you know,

As the election approaches.

There are MPs who have these towers in their electorates, and I think some of them are worried about what this means for them when they're walking into an election that is going to be about the cost of living and about housing, Like, is it a good look for them when public housing is being demolished, particularly when these towers is public housing, I think for a lot of people is a symbol of a time when governments did

Ruby James, thanks fit Reporting and thank you for coming on seven AM this morning.

Anytime.

Daniel also of the news today, Australia has been hit with a ten percent tariff and all goods exports to the United States as part of US President Donald Trump's sweeping Liberation Day announcement. Australia's rate was one of the lowest announced tariffs, matching the UK, Singapore, Turkey, Brazil and